Axe (3.5e Class)

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As a grunt in the Army of Red Mist, Mogul Khan set his sights on the rank of Red Mist General. In battle after battle he proved his worth through gory deed. His rise through the ranks was helped by the fact that he never hesitated to decapitate a superior. Through the seven year Campaign of the Thousand Tarns, he distinguished himself in glorious carnage, his star of fame shining ever brighter, while the number of comrades in arms steadily dwindled. On the night of ultimate victory, Axe declared himself the new Red Mist General, and took on the ultimate title of 'Axe.' But his troops now numbered zero. Of course, many had died in battle, but a significant number had also fallen to Axe's blade. Needless to say, most soldiers now shun his leadership. But this matters not a whit to Axe, who knows that a one-man army is by far the best.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Axe is proficient with simple weapons and the Greataxe and light and medium armor, but not with shields.

A Cut Above: The Axe gains specialized class features at levels 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20. Only one of the paths (Str, Con or Cha) can be chosen at each 5-level interval, but the Axe may mix and match which paths they take along the way. These decision cannot be reversed without magic/psionics capable of retraining feats.

Cha Path IV: When the Axe successfully kills a target with Culling Blade, all valid targets within 25 feet become targets of a Battle Hunger curse and must roll will saves as normal. The Axe gains a bonus of 5 movement speed per affected target. +1 Cha

Str Path V: No one, not even creatures lacking a discernable anatomy, can be immune to critical hits from the Axe, including Culling Blade criticals, as they represent a surge in strength rather than a well-aimed strike. +1 Str

Con Path V: Berserker's Call Damage Reduction becomes 25/epic. +1 Con

Cha Path V: No one, not even mindless creatures, can be immune to berserker's call or battle hunger. +1 Cha

Counter Helix (Ex): At 2nd level the Axe learns to transfer the force of their enemies' attacks into a cleaving, spinning counterattack. Any time an enemy makes an attack roll against Axe and gets a natural roll (without modifiers) of 3 or less, regardless of whether or not the attack beats the Axe's AC, the Axe spins 360 degrees and slashes at all creatures within reach. All creatures within reach roll a Ref Save DC 10 + Strmod for half damage. Failure results in damage equal to Strmod. Counter Helix counts as an attack of opportunity for the purposes of combat reflexes feat, etc. The Axe must be wielding a slashing weapon (such as an AXE) to use this extraordinary ability.

Berserker's Call (Sp): At 3rd level the Axe learns how to perform a spell-like war shout that enrages their enemies and protects the Axe from harm. As a standard action cause all creatures within 10 feet who are already hostile towards the Axe to roll a Will Save (DC 10 + Chamod) or go into a barbarian-like rage in which they may not cast spells, manifest powers, use more subtle skills, etc., (See Barbarian Rage) and they are forced to focus their attacks specifically on the Axe for 1 round. The Axe also gains DR 5/Magic for 1 round. The Axe may use Berserker's Call a number of times per day equal to their Chamod + 1 and after being used, the Axe must wait on a 2d6 +1 round cooldown before using it again. Enemies who cannot hear or are immune to mind affecting or rage would be unaffected by Berserker's Call.

Battle Hunger (Sp): At 4th level the Axe learns a curse that causes the subject to feel a primal hunger to kill something...anything! The Axe selects 1 target within 50 feet and, as a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, curses them. The action looks much like casting a spell, as it contains V and S components, but it is a Supernatural Ability. The subject rolls a will save DC 10 + Chamod or begins feeling a deep lust to kill something and taking 1d6 damage per round. While the target is cursed, they lose 5 speed from all movement speeds and the axe gains 5 speed in all their already present movement speeds. The Axe may gain a total speed bonus equal to 5 per Axe level from multiple cursed targets. (See A Cut Above: Cha Path IV) The curse ends when the subject kills something with at least 1 HD. Destroying undead or constructs with at least 1 HD also purges the curse. If the subject does not manage (or chooses not) to kill something with at least 1 HD after 1d3 + chamod rounds, the curse comes to an end automatically. The Axe may use this ability 1 + Chamod times per day with a 2d4 round cooldown in between castings. Remove Curse or Dispel Magic would be effective at removing Battle Hunger.

Culling Blade (Ex): At 6th level the Axe learns to deliver a killing blow to low-hp foes with one brutal chop to the head (or other vital region). The Axe may attempt this killing blow as a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The Axe rolls an attack with their melee weapon of choice with a -4 penalty (for targeting the vital region) and if the attack beats the target's AC and they have 25% or less hp, the attack is an automatic critical with an additional crit multiplier of +1x. If the target dies, the Axe gains 10 movespeed for 2 rounds. If the target survives or the Axe misses their attack, Axe is unable to perform Culling Blade again for the rest of the day. Targets that are immune to critical hits are immune to the critical damage as normal.